China urbanization is far behind that of the US, Japan, Germany, and South Korea. In fact, according to a new report from analysts at Goldman Sachs, by 2050 (37 years from now) China will still be lagging behind all three countries (see chart below). China Urbanization rate will increase rapidly, but it will not be enough to catch up with more ‘developed’ countries. This will have a profound impact on the global economy and...
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Before analyzing a company for investment, it’s important to have a perspective on how well the business has performed. Because at the end of the day, if you are an investor, you are buying the business. The FAST Graphs™ presented with this article will focus first on the business behind the stock. The orange line on the graph plots earnings per share since 2003. A quick glance vividly reveals the historical operating record of...
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Richard Koo of Nomura is out with his latest piece and it focuses on one of the hottest topics, Japan. Richard Koo is worried about some of Japan’s policies and goes so far as to state about the countries Central Banker ‘Mr. Kuroda’s psychological tactic of repeating a lie often enough that it becomes the truth has succeeded brilliantly.’ Richard Koo also says that Japanese BOJ actions could causes losses equal to 7.5% of...
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The foolish do the best in a strong bull market “The trend is your friend, until the bend at the end.” So the saying goes for those that blindly follow momentum. The same is true for some amateur investors that run concentrated portfolios, and happen to get it right for a while, until the cycle plays out and they didn’t have a second idea to jump to. In a strong bull market, if you...
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Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) recently acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion, but the company has more to share. The company announced the all new redesigned Flickr featuring high-resolution images and a massive 1 terabyte of free storage for all users. In addition to that, Yahoo also announced that it is releasing a new Android app for smartphones and tablets, which resembles the recently revamped iOS app. Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) CEO At Press Event Speaking at a...
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The iPhone 6 may not even be out until next year, and yet new concept videos just keep appearing. This latest concept comes from Uygar KAYA, and a video of it was created by Ran Avni. iClarified published the video on its site. This iPhone 6 concept features a full HD retina screen and an ultra slim look. It also has notification LEDs and is able to charge wirelessly. In addition, it has a...
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Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has confirmed that currently Hangouts only supports inbound calls on the web and via the Chrome extension, and support for outbound calls is coming ‘soon.’ Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), at it’s I/O developer conference on Wednesday introduced the new Hangouts, Google’s unified messaging application, and since then, the application is also available on Android and iOS. Users can also enable the new Hangouts on Gmail, for those who are eager to try out...
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We have been arguing for quite some time (although we are not a registered investment advisor nor offering investment advice, see our legal disclaimer for more details) that Europe (especially the periphery) offers value for those with the stomach for volatility. We have specifically pointed to Greece although we noted many of the ‘Northern European’ countries are also cheap. Morgan Stanley is out with a report on the cheapest stocks in Europe. They specifically use...
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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) ruled the tech world for almost a decade. But now the company seems to be stagnating while other tech giants are moving ahead in the race. According to IDC’s latest ranking of smartphone operating systems, the market share of Android smartphones increased to 75 percent in 1Q2013 from 59.1 percent in the same period of 2012. In contrast, iOS market share shrank from 23 percent to 17.3 percent in the same period....
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As investors hungry for yield buy Indian junk bonds, Greek corporate debt, and anything yielding a few percent, many are warning of a bubble. The warnings usually come from perma bear pundits, or regular pundits but the sell side usually likes to be cheerleaders of markets rallies. However, Goldman Sachs takes a break with that tradition in a new report on CCC bonds (AKA junk bonds). Goldman notes that the credit risk premium on...
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Four former Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) engineers along with another partner, began a small smartphone company in 2011 called Jolla with the intention of doing something new. Right now the company stands at 70 employees strong and has announced that it will launch its first smartphone in the fourth quarter retailing at 399 Euros ($519). The company is taking aim at mid-range to high-range manufacturers. The group left Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) in...
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